Sunday, January 10, 2010

flames v. 'nucks: coaching and analysis

i gotta say that when kelly hrudey started on hockey night in canada (back when the theme song was right and proper), he was terrible. like, TERRRRIBLE.... well, the dude's settled in nicely and offers some solid analysis week after week. oh, and he's apparently got dion phaneuf totally figured out.

early in the season, hrudey discussed how lazy phaneuf was on the ice, chalking it up to the long shifts that dion played under keenan's rule, and his warranted habit of "resting" on-ice. well, here he points out what we've all been seeing for months now: that he "makes so many silly mistakes and it's as though he doesn't think hockey very well." it's clear to hrudey, as it's clear to me, that dion often challenges neither the man nor the puck, and spends a freakish amount of time infront of the goaltender doing a whole lotta nothin' [a tendency that i poked fun at during the new years' eve game, telling my section-mates that i'd like to make Tshirts that read "what is dion doing ?" and on the back they would say "ohyeah... nothing" ... btw: i may have had a few heroin beers in me by then but i still maintain that the concept is sound].

the HILARIOUS part in this clip is that ron mclean (bless'im) tries to argue that phaneuf is like scott stevens, who didn't start his career with the greatest "hockey sense" but was still one of the best hitters in the game. milbury and hrudey immediately shoot that idea down by, essentially, pointing out that dion is not aggressive in his style like hall-of-famer stevens was... mclean, dejected and exposed, responds "nooo, i know... worth a try on my part." [just before the 2:00 mark]:

the REAL kick in the nuts, here, is hrudey suggesting that "maybe he's not a top 20 defenseman in the league, maybe he's a top 100."ouch.mathematically (and remember that i'm not so good at maths), that breaks down to kelly hrudey suggesting that dion might be in the lower half of NHL-calibre blueliners (30 teams x 6 defensemen = 180 total bigleague level Dmen). i might remind you all that we're talking about a 6.5 million dollar defender with four years remaining on his current deal.... and that top 100 would put him in montador territory. hrudey does a good job of addressing how disappointing dion's contract v. gameplay is....

anyhow, there is some really good defensive analysis in this segment, some good commentary on regehr and bouwmeester (in addition to phaneuf), and i can only hope ryan mcgill ---the flames D specialist--- is telling the boys some of the same stuff....

in other flames' coaching news, shootout hero and call-up jamie lundmark thanks the team's other jamie (goaltending coach and former luongo backup, mclennan) for tips on how to get one past the 'nucks captain. he also credits being a couch potato and sportscentre junkie in the greater vancouver area, during his time with the HEAT in abbotsford, and being innundated with highlights of bobbylu on the telly. yeah, i might be making assumptions here, but the point stands: jamie lundmark doesn't just watch teevee, he STUDIES it. also ? there's clearly fuckall to do in abbotsford aside from practise, gametime, and sleep. ;)

good win by the boys last night, way to define the term "dig deep." hopefully they can pull out the same kind of effort against the avs tomorrow, and that kippy's eyes are a-okay. i'd like to point fingers at canucks fans for proving why everyone detests them, but realistically it was just one total douchebag with a super high powered nerd-device and a vengeance. i hope he/she had money riding on the game and lost big.

ps: this is how you deliver (and dodge !!!) hits like scott stevens for a measley cap hit of 892K :

9 comments:

also ? there's clearly fuckall to do in abbotsford aside from practise, gametime, and sleep.

You aren't wrong. Abbotsford is the heart of BC's Bible Belt, also has a bit of a gang/drug problem (which seems counterintuitive, I know), and smells like manure much of the time. Poor Lundmark, and co., it must feel like a double-treat to get called up and away from the Heat.

I worked in Abbotsford for a year just out of university, but I decided I'd rather commute an hour each way than live there. Now, like most of the province, I just keep the windows rolled up and drive quickly on my way through :D

Unrelated, but I was at the game last night and, as much as I hate Canucks fans, the only real ass was the one with the laser. Everyone I interacted with was great, even when I taunted them after the loss!

taunting at away arenas is fun. my buddy in st.louis wouldn't let me do it after the flames won there nov5. i think he thought we were gonna get shanked. ;)

if you were at the game, perhaps you can shed some light on what exactly led to gio (and raymond) getting the 10 minute misconduct to start the third... any faithful hitthepost reader would know that i think gio gets the shaft by the refs night in and night out, so i'm wondering if there was merit to the penalty last night, or if the zebras were just too chickenshit to give iggy ten.... ?

There were enough Flames fans on Saturday that we could taunt with a reasonable degree of confidence. And also, half the people at Canucks games are business people who wouldn't know how to shank someone, even if they really really wanted to. They also don't know much about hockey, outside their beloved Canucks, which is why I can't stand "them."

The Gio misconduct came out of a big scrum at the end of the second period, and it was around the Canucks net, opposite end of the ice from my seat, so I didn't have a great view (made worse by the people were making a beeline for the concourse, thus blocking sight-lines). I didn't get much of a look at what happened, so I can't shed any light, sorry...

That's some scary tape that Mr. Crazy Hair is throwing up on the screen. By the time the decision is made to trade Dion away (maybe next year?), the whole league is going to know that he isn't worth his salary.

Sorry I missed that game, from the M&G post-game it sounded super exciting. I saw bits and pieces of one of Prusty's fights as well, what a great game I missed.

Except for the shootout of course, y'know I saw that part. Dawes, Olli, and Lundy; those guys are the epitome of "Clutch". Unlike Mr. Rackers.